There is an immense reservoir of good will for public libraries and yet public libraries are struggling to stay afloat. Why is this? It seems that in our marketing efforts, we are being incredibly obtuse. But in what ways? How do we tap into Ghawar Field of public love for libraries? How do we make libraries sticky? Let's discuss.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Problem: The business community could make good use of some of the library's resources, especially some of our databases. But they don't know such resources exist, or at least aren't aware that they are freely available via the library. And who has time to come into the library to sign up for a library card?

Possible solution: Each business that operates within the City of Spokane must have a city business license. I'm in the very beginning stages of working with the city's Business License office to have them issue library cards to the owners of businesses located within the city limits when they sign up of their business license. We'll see if having a card provided to them will increase the business community's library use.

Note: The bookmarks I mentioned a few posts back are nearly ready to go to the printer so I should have some news relatively soon about their effectiveness...